


A Faint Glow On A Dark Night

by shinobi93



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First War with Voldemort, Halloween, M/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 08:05:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8437870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinobi93/pseuds/shinobi93
Summary: Remus Lupin does not particularly like Halloween (a few snapshots, 1973-1980).





	

**Author's Note:**

> A little thing I wrote on Halloween night because I wanted to write about Remus and Sirius. It can be read as fitting alongside my other Remus/Sirius fic ['The Lingering Scent of Possibility'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3881638) or alone.
> 
> No warnings apply as far as I know, but please let me know if you think I should add any.

‘I never understand why wizards celebrate Halloween. With the so-called “spooky” creatures and magic an obvious reality, it seems pretty redundant.’

‘Of course you would say that, you’re a werewolf.’

Remus Lupin glared at Sirius Black. It was a difficult task, because Sirius wasn’t facing him and was concentrating on enchanting a sheet so that it would glide over people pelting them with spiders. By ‘people’, Remus was pretty certain Sirius meant ‘Slytherins’. The first Quidditch match of term had not gone well and James needed appeasing before his angry brooding caused him to pull out all of his hair. James himself was sitting across the dormitory, doing something to a pumpkin they’d stolen that is unlikely to bode well for the Slytherins or anyone else who encounters it. Beside him, Peter failed to not be distracted by James’ task, despite having homework to do that the other three have completed.

‘Werewolf or not, it’s pointless to mark an event mostly focused on claiming that a whole load of wizarding everyday stuff is really scary. Muggles dress up as witches and wizards!’

‘Just means that even if you don’t put any effort in, to them it would seem like you had,’ pointed out James.

‘I don’t think all muggles do it though,’ Peter said.

‘The book I read for Muggle Studies the other year said it’s bigger in America these days,’ Remus agreed. ‘But at Hogwarts we do it. Halloween feast, bats flying around, portraits enchanted so they all have vampire fangs. It makes no sense.’

‘Bet Dumbledore just loves it. Maybe it’s his favourite time of year. He’s got five different costumes and hits all the local pubs wearing them. Five different ones each year.’ Sirius emphasised his point by flicking his wand, causing the sheet to zoom across the room making a loud cackling sound.

‘Maybe Dumbledore wishes he was a scarier Halloween thing,’ said James, putting the pumpkin aside. ‘Lifelong dream to be more troll.’

‘More like a vampire. They say he’s a bit batty, after all.’

‘Sirius, that was terrible,’ grinned Remus. In response, Sirius stood up, threw his cloak around himself, and ran around the room, leaping onto the beds when they get in his way.

‘Watch out, mere wizards, for I am Dumbledore, king of the vampires, and I will take your blood and replace it with education!’

James started throwing Halloween sweets at Sirius, the ones he sweet talked from the kitchens earlier because he’d eaten everything his mum had sent him within two hours. Remus and Peter laughed. Remus had no desire to get involved: over four years of sharing a dormitory with them has taught him that these things never end well. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes, Sirius was face first on the floor, having tripped over either Peter’s leg or absolutely nothing, with Sirius insisting it was the former. Remus, meanwhile, was gathering up the sweets that James had thrown near him; James wouldn’t have used them as a projectile if he wasn’t willing to share.

Remus didn’t forget his Halloween question, one that has plagued him for years. It took a while for him to realise that it wasn’t just the confused logic of the issue, but also the werewolf side of it, the time of the year when muggles find werewolves a thrilling, excitingly terrifying fictional creature. Sirius’ flippant comment is close to the truth: he cares because he is a werewolf, because he knows that Halloween is not when the horrors come, but every month. Whilst his friends use Halloween as an excuse to get revenge on Slytherin (and he doesn’t discredit the motive), Remus wished it would just pass by unmarked. He knows where to find the monster.

 

 

-

 

 

Muggle Studies was not Remus’ most thought out decision. Picking their additional subjects for third year had been a weird process: James’ parents sending him long letters with suggestions, Peter clearly hoping somebody else would choose for him, Sirius smirking as he chose his but refusing to explain the very obvious reason of how he had picked them. Remus knew Sirius was doing Muggle Studies because his parents would hate it. Neither James or Peter were, because Lily Evans had picked Arithmancy according to a source James wouldn’t divulge and James liked the outdoors nature of Care of Magical Creatures, and Peter had opted to copy James’ options because he wasn’t brooding about his whilst staring dramatically out of the window. 

Remus knew that he had invented a lot of reasons why Muggle Studies would be very useful to him as justification for picking it. He did entirely understand why he had done it, but he didn’t think that wanting to have one new subject with a friend was a terrible thing to want (Ancient Runes, chosen for the fact it seemed interesting, would probably have people he knew in it, but none of his best friends). Sirius’ enthusiastic ‘we’ll study the shit out of those Muggles’ had settled any doubt Remus may have had: by choosing Muggle Studies, he had somehow stopped Sirius muttering about his family. And whilst the other three would have Care of Magical Creatures together, he thought, he and Sirius could share the joys and homework of their subject together. Getting Sirius without James wasn’t always easy.

Now, two months into Muggle Studies, Remus was not regretting his decision. Sirius had not yet tired of his habit of referring to things they’d covered in the class in front of the others as ‘stuff you wouldn’t understand’ with a wink to Remus. Their new classes didn’t impact much otherwise. The other three seemed to be reading a lot of books relating to animal transfiguration for Care of Magical Creatures, but didn’t discuss them in front of Remus, he thought perhaps to not make him feel left out. He appreciated their attempt to look after him, though he didn’t need it.

‘The traditions of Halloween date back a very long time…’

Remus blinked, only then remembering that it was the thirtieth of October. Beside him, Sirius started to make spooky ghost noises.

‘You’ve seen ghosts, they don’t sound like that,’ hissed Remus.

‘Bloody Baron does. When no one thinks he can hear.’

‘No way you can prove that.’

‘...dressing up as monsters and scary beings is a notable practice…’

Remus had barely paid attention to the lesson, assuming it was a festive treat to have an easy lesson about Halloween customs. Suddenly they are told to make notes from their book on muggle Halloween and discuss in pairs about how it relates to real aspects of the wizarding world.

‘Trick or treating sounds fun. Free chocolate!’ exclaimed Sirius, earning a sharp look from Professor Hawthorn. Remus meanwhile had opened the book and was looking at a drawing of muggles dressed up in costumes, as a vampire, werewolf, and mummy respectively.

‘Not very accurate,’ he muttered. Sirius heard him and looked down at the book. There was a moment’s pause, in which Remus knew Sirius was deciding whether to go for a joke or not. It could be very obvious when Sirius was picking whether to be serious or not.

‘Sorry,’ he whispered, then raised his voice. ‘They do not know what wizards wear. I would not be seen dead in some weird coat with stars on. It doesn’t even do up at the front. Wizards don’t dress so they can throw off their cloaks and pretend to be muggles instantly.’

‘You would if it would annoy your mum,’ said Remus. Sirius started off on a rant about muggle versus wizarding dress which half the class ended up listening to instead of doing their work. At the end even ‘old Thorny’ (as Sirius liked to call her) admitted he knew a great deal of information on muggle clothing and its purposes, even if it wasn’t relevant to that particular lesson. She set them homework researching muggle views on wizarding creatures in relation to Halloween, which made Remus look down at the desk until she had turned away and they could pack up their things. Sirius didn’t talk about the lesson afterwards so Remus followed suit, thinking that Sirius had chosen the ‘distract him’ method of trying to help.

The next day, Remus awoke to Sirius poking him in the arm with his wand.

‘Wake up Remus, I need to borrow your clothes.’

Barely awake, Remus blinked.

‘They’re robes, they’re the same as yours.’

‘They’re a different size. I need yours. And your shoes. And your bag.’

Pulling his curtains further apart, Remus looked around the room for a clue as to what Sirius was up to. James and Peter were both still sleeping.

‘Er….not trying to sound funny but...why?’

‘Never ask questions.’ Remus stared at him, knowing Sirius would break. ‘Okay, okay, I’m dressing as you today. For Halloween. You need to dress as me. You are me, today. And I am you. You’d better learn to think like me. For starters, you should be pestering me, not the other way around.’

‘But why?’

Sirius did not answer. He just looked expectantly. Remus bent down and pulled his things out of his trunk.

‘Here. Pass me yours.’

James and Peter did not bat an eyelid at the concept. At breakfast, James turned everyone’s pumpkin juice blood red as a joke, McGonagall gave him detention for traumatising those who were drinking it at the time, and Sirius informed Remus that he would have to answer to Sirius’ name and go to his classes that day. Luckily, they had exactly the same classes that day, so all that ended up happening was that teachers thought that Sirius was butting over Remus every time he went to speak.

That evening, they were sitting by the fire in the common room when Remus decided he couldn’t wait any longer.

‘Sirius, why are we being each other?’

Sirius ignored him. He realised what he was doing wrong.

‘Remus, why are we being each other?’

Sirius turned his head and spoke low, so that nobody else could hear.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Remus shook his head. ‘You’re being a real monster for the day. Sirius Black, annoying the teachers, disappointing his parents, wasting his intellect. Whereas I am Remus Lupin, who mostly does his homework on time and just has a little illness to deal with on a monthly basis. As the rebel wizard, Sirius Black is clearly a great Halloween costume.’

Remus laughed.

‘Thanks Sirius. Or Remus. Or Sirius. Thanks.’

‘Don’t mention it. As Remus, I have also done your Muggle Studies homework and mine. I have done both of our Muggle Studies homework. So there’s no need for you to-’ Sirius trailed off, shrugging as if to point out that Remus knew what he meant. Remus did. Sirius meant that what muggles did for Halloween didn’t matter. Even though Remus knew he couldn’t let go of it that easily, couldn’t stop hating what he was, at least he now had friends who tried to make him feel like it didn’t matter.

 

 

-

 

 

Harry was tiny and still somehow very James, even when dressed as a golden snitch. Or perhaps even more so because he was dressed as a golden snitch.

‘I can’t believe you,’ Remus said, throwing a glance at James and then Lily. ‘Both of you. Dressing your child like this.’

‘He doesn’t know,’ Lily pointed out. ‘And he looks adorable.’

Sirius held the golden snitch in his arms and looked down at it like it was the reason he’d won every Quidditch cup.

‘You did well with this one, Prongs. Not so useless after all.’

Lily coughed.

‘I think I had something to do with it, too.’

‘I’d hope so, I’d faint at the idea of James having a child on his own. My godfather duties might be called into action a little too much.’

It wasn’t much of a Halloween party. Peter had sent his apologies via Dumbledore and Sirius had only got back from doing Order work that morning so was tired and maudlin-looking, suggesting it hadn’t gone well. Even so, Remus marvelled at the ordinariness of the evening, Lily and James having floated pumpkins round the living room and dressed their baby son up as a ball.

‘It was Halloween when you two finally went on a date, remember?’ Remus prompted as the memory flitted through his brain, taking the place for a moment of dozens of worse ones and awful fears. ‘James promised to play no Halloween tricks if you went with him to Hogsmeade and Sirius claimed he’d been de-antlered.’

Everyone laughed.

‘I would’ve said yes anyway,’ Lily admitted.

‘That’s what I told Sirius at the time. “James didn’t need to do anything but ask and leave off the weird puns as he did it.” He still thought you might hex James into a vampire pumpkin or something. Took me ages to convince him not to follow you two round Hogsmeade, had to point out we could spent the time together instead.’

Remus knew he sounded forced. They all sounded a little forced. They were so grateful to be together and yet all too aware it couldn’t last. This Halloween the monsters were all too real, slipping between them, breathing down their necks. Remus was off for the Order in a few days, Sirius barely back, James doing various tasks for Dumbledore that didn’t take him too far away from Godric’s Hollow for now, Lily doing research and collating intelligence from their house. Only Harry, happily trying to catch Sirius’s nose in his fist, wasn’t haunted by what must be done. Remus had never liked Halloween and yet, for once, here he was appreciating it, glad for this evening of respite and friends. 

He looked at Sirius, prone to fits of reckless anger when in his flat (Remus had moved in safe in the knowledge that in times of war nobody would question it, nobody would drop by to chat and see them curled up together too tired to speak, too drained to do anything but reassure each other that they were there), beaming at his godson, beckoning Remus over with a ‘here, Harry, let’s see if Moony can catch you and win the match for Gryffindor.’ There were James and Lily, tired not just as new parents but as too young fighters, battling Voldemort around getting married and having a baby. Halloween wasn’t just fear and scary creatures. This year Halloween was a little tiny spark of light in the darkness.


End file.
